Bossey commended by University of Geneva

Photo: Luc Hegetschweiler/WCC

02 February 2018

Through a ceremony on 26 January, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey saw 21 students from 20 countries and 10 denominations embark on a future of ecumenical work in their respective home countries and contexts.

Having completed six months of studies at the Institute, the students were awarded their Certificates of Advanced Studies in Ecumenical Studies and Complementary Certificates in Ecumenical Studies.

As courses at the Ecumenical Institute are accredited by the University of Geneva, the students were greeted specifically by Prof. Ghislain Waterlot, dean of the university’s Faculty of Theology.

“The Bossey Institute is extremely important to the Faculty of Geneva, and we have sustained invaluable ties for a long time. Bossey brings the world to us,” said Waterlot.

”You have come from all over the world, from almost every continent, to participate in a unique experience at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. Far from home, you have not joined an isolated and particularist environment, but quite the opposite: a place of open-mindedness that boasts a wealth of exceptional diversity,” Waterlot added.

“I think there is no place like Bossey to engage in such an experience,” said Waterlot, “But I would like to remind those among you who are about to go back to their home countries how crucial it is that you bring back with you and cultivate the spirit of Bossey, wherever you are.”

”Bossey is a place to be experienced,” says Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi, academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute. ”As we’ve seen this year, like so many years before, studies here offer students a chance not only to immerse themselves in academic study, but also to see, feel and experience what it can mean to share lifetime together with people from diverse cultures and Christian traditions.”

”As each new generation of students finalize their studies here at Bossey, we rejoice as we look forward to seeing them employ their theological training to build bridges among people of faith around the world,” says Fr Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, WCC deputy general secretary and director of the Ecumenical Institute.

Since its creation in 1946, the WCC’s Ecumenical Institute at the Château de Bossey has been fulfilling its mission of ecumenical theological formation and education.